The Quincy King, Yhwach, stole the limelight during the first cour of Bleach: The Thousand-Year Blood War with his jaw-dropping introduction and, ultimately, his short-lived battle with Genryusai Yamamoto. As the primary antagonist of the aforementioned arc, his aim is to bring about the end of the world by making Soul Society, the Human World, and Hueco Mundo collapse on themselves.
He put on a performance that has left fans worldwide wondering about the true extent of his powers. After absorbing the Soul King, his father, Yhwach, became one of the most overpowered characters in anime, possessing powers that rival gods. Here are some of the strongest abilities Yhwach is known to have.
This post contains spoilers from the Thousand Year Blood War Arc in the Bleach manga series.
10 Immense Healing Ability
His name, Yhwach, was bestowed upon him by the public due to his ability to heal the people he touches. He does this by sharing a part of his soul that healed the wounds their souls could not, be it emotional, physical, or mental injuries. Even though the “healed” people had a shortened lifespan, the thought of having all their problems cured still sounded tempting.
After the death of such a person, the portion of Yhwach’s soul, now imprinted with the person's knowledge and skill set, would return to Yhwach and bolster him.
9 Control Over All Quincies
As the king and progenitor of all Quincies, his blood flows through all of them. He can control other Quincies or those with Quincy blood, like Ichigo, through the sentiments contained in his blood and by infusing his reiatsu into them, as demonstrated during Yhwach’s attack in an attempt to absorb the Soul King.
Ichigo, who was meant to stop him, ultimately became his tool, as Yhwach puppeteered him into cleaving the Soul King apart, further explaining that his blood resents the Soul King; hence anyone who possesses it would not be able to tolerate the Soul King’s presence.
8 Power Bestowal
Yhwach discovered that a more efficient and powerful way of distributing his soul was by carving a letter or a Schrift on the receiver's soul, representing an ability. This way, he could give out more portions of his soul and channel more power through them.
The Schrifts lettered A to Z were bestowed to twenty-five other Quincies, forming the Sternritters, with Yhwach himself bearing the Schrift A for “The Almighty” and his right-hand man Jugram Haschwalth taking B - “The Balance.” The first Quincy to receive a Schrift was Lille Barro, who was given X - “The X-Axis.”
7 Ability Enhancement
With the ability known as Auswahlen, Yhwach can steal the powers of those he deems weak and impure and make them his own. He can also use this to redistribute power among his Quincies, taking power from those considered disposable and sending it to those who need it.
The targets are struck with a column of light from the heavens which absorbs their powers and leaves them to perish– even being near one of the columns can cause a Quincy to lose his power. On the other hand, the recipients of said power are granted more power than they’ve ever had.
6 Blut Vene Anhaben
Blut is a Quincy technique that increases a person's offensive and defensive capabilities by making Reishi flow in their veins. Yhwach can extend his Blut Vene, a defensive technique, into a Blut Vene Anhaben, which creates a spherical Reishi field using his body as the center.
It could easily negate a Getsuga Tensho from Ichigo’s bankai form and Kido from a member of the revered Squad Zero. The technique needs a lot of Reishi to stay up and will even go as far as consuming living things to do so.
5 Heilig Pfeil
These are the light arrows that Quincies can generate by collecting Reishi from the environment and manifesting them with the help of a Spirit Weapon. However, Yhwach can manifest them without a Spirit Weapon from the tip of his fingers, as evidenced when he fired them in his fight against Yamamoto.
He can also release them in barrages, like a Gatling gun with enough force to blow giant holes in the ground. Though this might be one of his more straightforward abilities, the ease of use and versatility make them one of the strongest abilities in his arsenal.
4 Matter Transmutation
Absorbing the Soul King granted Yhwach many new powers, significantly increasing the number of abilities in his arsenal. One of the unique abilities he gained was the ability to transmute matter. He was able to move the City of Wandenreich to the Royal Realm, where the Soul King’s Palace once was, restructuring it and the existing architecture to create the Quincy Zeichen, a massive new home for the Almighty and his followers.
He also demonstrated this ability when he created a fortress in the new palace in seconds, changing the landscape to his advantage in the middle of a battle.
3 Absorption
.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=1500&dpr=1.5)
Yhwach’s understanding and mastery of Reishi allow him to absorb any being he touches. As an extension, he also absorbs their powers, containing them in his body and essentially making them his.
As evidenced by his absorption of the Soul King, this power can be used to break the boundaries in this series, putting no upper limit on the amount of power Yhwach can possess. Though the length for this absorption varies greatly, those weaker than him take less than a second, and those stronger than him take longer.
2 Precognition
When Yhwach activates his Schrift A - “The Almighty,” it splits his pupils into two and allows him to see all the possible futures and outcomes that can occur between the present and the distant future. Yhwach puts this ability to good use, anticipating and creating countermeasures for all outcomes which may affect his plans.
However, his ability only operates based on what he can see, ultimately leading to his downfall. The only being said to be immune to Yhwach’s precognition is his father, the Soul King, with Yhwach unable to foresee his following actions.
1 Future Alteration
The true power of The Almighty is not just to see the future but to alter the possible outcomes into whatever he wishes as well. This ability made him nigh-invulnerable as he simply could not be touched, implementing it to set up traps for his enemies well into the future.
He could also predict and counteract any defense or countermeasure an enemy might use to make sure his attacks hit, effectively countering their counter. He can even use this ability to alter and create a new future if it was to result in his death, making him one of the most formidable foes in anime.